MS Bing Popularity Etches, Google Fans Still Loyal

It seems all that press and some tasty "cashback" rewards have helped Bing, Microsoft's new search engine, gain more momentum in its race against industry rival Google. According to reports, Bing made more noise last month while its competitors took slight nose dives in popularity.

Reporting on Bing's success is analyst firm comScore, which recently released figures revealing Microsoft's impressive climb in the search engine rankings. Back in late May, when Microsoft first released Bing, the Redmond-based company (known better for its operating systems and browser) held an 8 per cent market share -- up to that point, mostly on the back of its Live Search platform.

Bing Up, Google, Yahoo Down

During the months of June and July Bing's popularity crept upwards nearly a full point, to 8.9 per cent -- not enough to make Google execs shake in their Armani loafers, but concerning for the search titans nonetheless.

The impact on Bing's competitors, notably Google and Yahoo, can be witnessed in the numbers. Since Bing's release in May, Yahoo has dipped from a 20.1 per cent market share to just 19.3 per cent. Google dipped too, and although its drop wasn't quite as dramatic, the 0.3 per cent slip (from 65 to 64.7 per cent) probably does have something to do with Microsoft's strong push for Bing. (Source: washingtonpost.com)

Bing's Popularity Bangs Up Yahoo

Keep in mind, however, that Bing will soon power much of Yahoo's long-standing search engine.

Many insiders speculate that Bing's strong start had a critical impact on progress towards a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo, which had started and stalled off and on for months prior to this summer.

And yet, despite its drop and the tag-team Yahoo-Microsoft challenge, Google isn't yet facing a serious challenge. comScore followed its report on Bing's rising popularity with another on search engine loyalty, and found that most Google users continue to go back to their favorite finder over and over again. (Source: arstechnica.com)